Fifty-three percent of likely voters have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of first lady Melania Trump, up from 45 percent who felt that way just after the presidential election last year, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released on Wednesday.
Thirty-six percent of likely voters hold an unfavorable opinion of her and 11 percent are undecided.
These numbers are similar to how voters viewed former first lady Michelle Obama in her husband's final year in office, but pale in comparison to the 75 percent who had a favorable opinion of Laura Bush at the end of her husband's presidency, despite his own very poor approval ratings.
Other results from the survey show:
- Among Republicans, 81 percent view the first lady favorably, while among Democrats 57 percent have an unfavorable opinion of her. Among independent voters, 50 percent view her favorably, while 44 percent have an unfavorable opinion of her.
- There are more than double the percentage of voters who have a very favorable opinion of her, at 30 percent, than those who have a very unfavorable opinion of her, at 14 percent.
- Voters are evenly divided over whether Melania Trump is a good role model for younger Americans, with 40 percent saying yes, 40 percent no and 20 percent who are not sure. In 2016, 56 percent said Michelle Obama was a good role model.
- Among men, 43 percent consider her a good role model, compared to 37 percent of women, although approximately 20 percent of both groups are undecided.
- Only 21 percent think Melania Trump is even somewhat involved in policy decisions, far below the 56 percent who said the same of Michelle Obama near the end of her husband's first year in office.
The survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters was conducted on Nov. 28-29. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.
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